The number of positive corona tests continues to rise, the testing policy is still not in order and the capacity shortage at the GGDs makes the source and contact investigation squeak and creak. On Tuesday evening, the House of Representatives will debate with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Corona Minister Hugo de Jonge about the latest state of affairs in the approach to the corona crisis. The criticism from the House of Representatives is getting louder.
“Just shut up”, was the appeal of Prime Minister Rutte, who responded on Monday to images of football supporters who were too close to each other last weekend and yet cheered against the regulations.
He later retracted his words, but they characterize the annoyance of the prime minister who sees that fewer and fewer people are complying with the corona rules. This while things are going in the wrong direction with the number of infections, hospital admissions and patients in intensive care.
The virus is making a comeback and the Netherlands must brace itself for a second wave, was the message during the corona press conference on Friday. New local measures in the problem regions of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht must turn the tide.
‘An increase in the number of test requests was not foreseen’
Opposition parties SP and PvdA, which have been critical of the cabinet’s approach for some time, fear that this is insufficient. According to Lodewijk Asscher (PvdA), the Prime Minister’s statement “just shut up” distracts from the government’s policy in the field of testing and tracing, the poor communication and lack of clarity surrounding local measures.
At the moment it is squeaking and creaking in the test streets of the GGDs. There is a lack of capacity and therefore care and education personnel can be tested as a priority from Monday. A hard blow for Minister De Jonge, who announced before the summer that anyone with mild complaints could be tested. The testing of incoming travelers at Schiphol has been halted due to the shortages.
In addition, OMT member and physician-microbiologist Ann Vossen on Monday evening in the talk show Jinek acknowledged that the demand for tests was misjudged. “In retrospect, we did not foresee the huge increase in September. If you had known that beforehand, you would have started contract negotiations five weeks earlier.”
The result is that the cabinet is struggling with shortages of materials and laboratories. The Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ) warned last week that the Dutch testing system is currently not ready for a second wave.
During the General Political Discussions, not only the opposition’s criticism, but also that of coalition party D66 was not tender. “It goes completely wrong with testing”, says Lilian Marijnissen (SP). She can understand the crisis situation at the start of the pandemic, but believes that the cabinet should not be taken by surprise at this stage of the fight against viruses. It has been known for months that more tests are needed, Marijnissen emphasizes. Rob Jetten (D66) also wants to know why the Netherlands does not have the test capacity in order.
‘The virus is scaling up faster than the fastest upscaling plan’
During the technical briefing prior to the debate on Tuesday, it became clear that there are not only problems with the timely training of sufficient staff, but that it is mainly due to the unexpectedly rapid increase in the number of infections.
“The virus is scaling up faster than the fastest scaling-up plan,” said GGD director Sjaak de Gouw. Currently, 38,000 people report for a test every day, while the laboratories only have room for 28,000. The labs do not expect to be able to perform 50,000 tests per day until October, said national test coordinator Erwin Boel.
The experts’ message was clear: to break the second wave, people must again comply with the corona rules and get tested for complaints.
Part of the House questions this and wonders whether the measures announced on Friday are in proportion to the warning that the Netherlands is at the start of a second wave. Asscher: “Aren’t more measures necessary than scrapping the last round in the pub?” According to RIVM director Jaap van Dissel, everything will depend on the extent to which Rutte’s announcement will be a “wake-up call” for people.
Celebrities turn on the initiative of conspiracy thinker against corona policy
It is precisely in this area that criticism of the cabinet is growing. Crisis communication has not always been clear from the start of the corona outbreak, and after the Grapperhaus affair, the cabinet has lost authority in calling for compliance.
In addition, despite target group campaigns, it is not possible to persuade young people, among whom the infections are increasing most, to continue to comply with the rules. In addition, a series of well-known and lesser-known Dutch people turned on social media against the corona policy on Tuesday – at the initiative of conspiracy thinker Willem Engel of Viruswaarheid (formerly known as Virus Madness).
For example – with the problems surrounding testing and tracing, the doubts about the effectiveness of the new measures and questions about the mouth masks directive – the difficult task of getting the genie back in the bottle and getting everyone back on the corona policy again. .
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